“Will Make The Arrangements”: Election Commission On Postal Ballots For Journalists

Media personnel who are on election reporting duty and not able to vote in their own constituencies will be allowed to vote via postal votes, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed. The CEC was responding to a query by a journalist as he was announcing dates for the 2024 general elections and Assembly elections for four states, in New Delhi.

”We will make the arrangements,” said Mr Kumar as he was responding to a question in this regard from senior journalist and chief of Deepika bureau in Delhi George Kallivayalil.

During 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, Central Election Commission had allowed postal voting media persons. For this, the journalists had to fill a Form-12D and to be submitted to the Returning Officer. The rule was to submit the application within five days of notification of selection.

Voting process for both the Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian Parliament) and the Legislative Assemblies of Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh will start from April 19, and the counting will be done on June 4.

The elections will commence on April 19 and will continue till June 1. The counting will be held on June 4.

Notably, the election will be held in seven phases.

The second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be on April 26, and the third phase is on May 7. Meanwhile, phase 4 voting is on May 13, and phase 5 will be held on May 20. The phase 6 voting will be on May 25, and the final phase of voting is on June 1. It is considered as the most notable parliamentary polls in the history as the ruling BJP is seeking a third consecutive term.

Andhra Pradesh will head to the polls on May 13. Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be having state assembly elections on April 19. The voting process in Odisha will be in two phases on May 13 and May 20. The Election Commission announced that by-elections for 26 Assembly seats will also be conducted along with the Lok Sabha elections.